Clemency

Kick low, so that he can't grab my ankle. Duck! She's swinging a lethal dagger. Whoosh. Just missed. No time for relief- there's the opening I've been looking for!

And he's down.

Marie let out a shriek of rage and flew into an even greater frenzy. So great was her fury that she was losing focus. That would work to my advantage- this was going to be almost too easy. And she wasn't the only one who could play with fire. I barely dodged a wild flying kick, leaping behind a potted plant just in time. It wouldn't offer much shelter, but maybe it would block her long enough so that… Yes! Just look at those flames creeping up around her, leaving only one narrow path way out, straight away from the motel. The flames crept closer and she had only two options: roast or flee.

I studied her closely, revulsion creeping up as I regained the ability to focus on anything but combat. Her features, once so familiar, had been transformed by greed and malice. "Don't you remember what you were?" I whisper, feeling the ghost of a pain long healed in my chest. Her head snapped toward me and I am shocked by apathy I saw in her eyes.

"Weak?" she snarled. "Yeah, I remember. Catch you later, Care." Something in me snapped at the use of her old nickname for me. But I couldn't reach her through the flames and in an instant, it was too late anyway. She was gone.

She chose life, just as I knew she would. This mission's success, and the power that would come with it, wouldn't compare to the value she set on her life. Marie, like Lord Voldemort, feared nothing more than death.

I watched Marie climb into her car and speed off into the darkness, watched long after her taillights disappeared, until I was absolutely sure that she wasn't coming back. The smell of roasting flesh churned my stomach, but I managed to ignore it. Marie had left her comrade to burn. He was too far gone now for me to do anything. Besides, I had to make sure Nelly was alright. He had been sparring with Marie's other partner in crime in the lobby, last I'd seen.

I sprinted back down the hall, past several flaming rooms- I'd have to remember to tend to those, and soon- only to find the lobby deserted and reeking of blood. Where had he gone? What had happened here?

I stood there, torn between searching for Nelly and checking on Jade. She was, after all, my assignment, and I had no way of knowing that more people hadn't come and invaded her room. She could be in danger right now. But Nelly had been my friend for decades, and he wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me.

An image of Jade's green eyes, alight with humor, drifted unbidden into my mind, and before I could debate it any more, I was rushing off toward her room, only to find it… empty? My heart started racing, and I sprinted back toward the lobby.

Where could she be? Had they packed up and left once the fire started spreading? I would never find her if that was the case. Marie could be following them right now. Or she might still be in the building.

Nelly. I had to find Nelly. He would know what to do. Besides, he might still be in trouble. What a mess this had turned into.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on Jade. I formed a clear, perfect image of her in my mind, surrounded myself with the smell of her shampoo… I wasn't nearly as good at this as some of my friends, but it was the only real chance I had.

Focusing every ounce of concentration I had on Jade, I started walking. I trusted the Stone to keep me safe, to guide me to her. Scarcely aware of what I was doing, I started moving faster, taking a turn here, jumping up a flight of steps only to go back down some not much later. On impulse, I jumped up and grabbed at what felt like a grate. It disintegrated almost before I touched it at all. And then I was jumping… Crawling…

My eyes snapped open. Whatever had drawn me here had stopped. I surveyed my surroundings. What was this, a vent? This had to be wrong. Why would Jade be up here? Nonetheless, I was unwilling to give up my only lead. I crawled further down, barely negotiated a turn, and…

There she was. "Jade!" I couldn't help exclaiming in a fuzzy mixture of shock and relief. Then I realized that something was wrong. She was pale, paler than anyone I had ever seen. Paler than a corpse, even. She was just laying there, dead to the world, with one hand gripping Nelly's.

Nelly… oh, God. Could all of that blood on his shirt possibly be his? How could anyone have survived that much blood loss? Besides, that gash in the shirt, in the most saturated part, showed whole, unblemished skin. Something was seriously wrong here. More urgently now, I inched closer. Once I got within a couple of feet, however, I was shoved back by some invisible force. I lifted one hand and pounded against the barrier. It wouldn't give. They were blocked in. How could I help them, how could I even know if they were alive, with this? How were they supposed to get out, what was causing it?

I beat against it until, even with my superhuman stamina, I was heaving and exhausted. Still, I couldn't stop. "Jade! Jade, wake up. Jade, come on!" I couldn't stop whispering, louder and louder as I grew more agitated. There were firemen in the building now. Beneath the sounds of my panic, I could hear them. They likely wouldn't come up into the ventilation system, but it would make getting out marginally more difficult.

These things I noted because years of training made them come natural to me. Jade, though, she was all I could really think about.

And then suddenly I was falling forward. Whatever barrier had been around the two of them was gone now. Jade had somehow paled even further; so white was she that even her lips were a ghastly white. I could see, quite clearly, each vein in her arms. She was fading away.

But how? How was this even possible? And more importantly, how did I reverse it?

"Jade," I whispered, incapable of much else as I scooped her up in my arms, holding her close against me where I could feel her faint pulse against my skin. I pressed my lips to her hair. She didn't smell like herself. She smelled of smoke, so much that my lungs burned from it. But that couldn't make me pull away from her. It was unlikely that anything could.

"Carrick?" Nelly groaned. He was shifting a little, beginning to sit up. He pulled his hand away from Jade's, flexed it. "What's wrong with her?" he asked after a moment.

"I don't know." Agony wrenched at my heart and I tugged her closer.

Thank goodness Nelly was there, because at that point I was more useless than a newborn babe. He examined himself, frowning at the exposed flesh where wounds should have been. "I think I know what happened, at least in part. I don't remember much, but I know that that thug got in more than one good swipe with his blade before I managed to beat him out. I was a mess. Even with our accelerated healing, I should have been out for days. Look at me. Not a scratch."

"You're not saying…"

"Yeah, I think she healed me." I stared down at Jade in awe. No one could do that, not to such a great extent, without decades of training. Even I had to put in great effort to make the merest cut heal up.

But healing was draining. A person could literally give until they had nothing left for themselves.

"We need to get her to Colum," I muttered. "He'll know what to do." Nelly shook his head doubtfully.

"Look at her, Carrick. Do you really think she'll make it that far?" But already he was stirring, inching his way down the vent.

"She has to," I muttered, more to myself than anything. I didn't know what I would do if she didn't.